WLA and Its Affiliations

The WLA is interested in exchanging ideas with other organizations. Below is a list of existing affiliations. Generally, this means that WLA members present a panel at the affiliate’s conference and vice versa. Please look for CFPs either here or on our NEWS page. If you are interested in participating in a WLA-panel at another conference, please contact the liaison for that particular conference. You must be a WLA member at the time of the conference, to participate in a WLA-sponsored panel.

As of 2010, the Western Literature Association has affiliate status with the Modern Language Association. What does this mean for WLA? This affiliate status guarantees the WLA to be able to present a panel at each MLA Conference. The first such panel was presented during the 2011 MLA Conference in Los Angeles, California.

The next MLA convention will take place in Vancouver, Canada, January 8-11, 2015. If you are interested in participating in a WLA panel, please contact Elisabeth Bayley.

CFP: WLA-sponsored panel at the MLA Conference 2015: Literatures of the North American West

Affiliate Organization Session of the Western Literature Association

In continuation of the Western Literature Association 2014 conference theme, we welcome any papers on the literatures of the North American West: possible topics include, border crossings broadly interpreted, first nations/Native American writing, depictions of the cowgirl/cowboy, the storyteller, and settings/ecocritical depictions or interpretations of western writing.

The WLA is one of the affiliated organizations in the American Literature Association’s “coalition of societies devoted to the study of American authors” <http://americanliteratureassociation.org>. Since 1989, the ALA has convened on the weekend prior to Memorial Day for its annual conference, with the location alternating between the East Coast in odd-numbered years and the West Coast in even-numbered years. Most of the conference revolves around panel presentations/sessions organized by the various member societies; as an affiliated society, the WLA has the option of presenting two sessions at the western meetings and one session at the eastern meetings.

Calls for proposals are initially made and discussed at the WLA’s business meeting, held each fall at the conclusion of the annual WLA conference. Subsequent calls for proposals are distributed via various online modes of communication, including both the WLA and ALA websites. The WLA’s liaison to the ALA is appointed by the WLA Executive Secretary, and the chief duties of the liaison consist of issuing the calls for proposals, organizing the conference sessions and communicating the final details of them to the organizers of the ALA, and when possible attending the meeting of society liaisons at the ALA conference.

ASLE was established at the annual WLA conference in 1992, and the two organizations continue to share common membership, with each organization regularly well represented at the other’s conference. In 2011, the two organizations entered affiliate status. The WLA liaison is appointed for a 3-year term.

ASLE conferences are organized every other year (in odd years). The next conference will be held June 23-27, 2015, in Moscow, Idaho. The call for proposals will be posted in the summer of 2014.

If you have any questions or would like to participate in a WLA-sponsored panel, please contact our liaison to ASLE, William V. Lombardi.

Western Literature Association (WLA)

Founded in 1965, the Western Literature Association (WLA) is a non-profit, scholarly association that promotes the study of the diverse literature and cultures of the North American West, past and present.